Eleanor Friedberger

The singer/songwriter talks about singing a Buddy Holly song at a wedding, being comforted by Karen Dalton, and her lottery-winning anthem in our new feature that has artists telling us about the music they turn to in various life situations.

Once a piece of music is etched onto vinyl or encoded into a stream of ones and zeros, it doesn't change. But everything and everyone around it is in a constant state of flux. And more than ever, we have the access and technology to use music to soundtrack what's going on in our lives at any particular time-- it can match our mood, snap us out of a mood, increase our heart rate, turn a long walk into something epic, or excite someone riding along with us on a road trip. No two people use music the exactly the same way.

With the new interview feature Situation Critical, we present artists with various life situations-- some joyous, some terrible, some bizarre-- to find out which songs, albums, or bands they would turn to under those specific circumstances.

I call Eleanor Friedberger in May, a day after the passing of Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek. “I have a bunch of Doors on vinyl but not digitally,” she says. “So I started downloading their albums and cranking up ‘Light My Fire’ and thinking, ‘This sounds so fucking great.’”

“But it’s all about the frame of mind,” she continues, sniffling and coughing thanks to some late-spring allergies and a cold. “With a band like the Doors, especially, sometimes it sounds like garbage-- but there are other moments where it sounds incredible, like this morning.”

You’ve been asked to choose the first song at your best friend’s wedding...

I actually performed Buddy Holly's "Dearest" at a wedding once. I was in Marfa, Texas, doing a little residency and recording, and there was a wedding going on the same day as my show. The guy who I was recording with was also the AV guy at this wedding, so he had to take a break to go. I was like, "Well, if you’re going, then shouldn’t I go? Maybe they’ll let me sing a song."

I was going to start singing as soon as they made their walk down the aisle together as husband and wife, but I did not know that they were going to stop and greet each and every one of their guests as they walked back. It took them so long. It's only a two-minute-long song, so I just sang it over and over and over again-- probably around 10 times.

You’re only able to listen to music through YouTube...

Something from the show "The Midnight Special". I always see the infomercial for it on television when I’m at hotels. It just runs continuously on certain channels. There’s an amazing one of Fleetwood Mac playing "Rhiannon".

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You’re driving with someone you want to impress...

"Atomic Bomb", a Nigerian recording from the 70s by William Onyeabor. It’s very long and repetitive, which makes it good for driving. And it’s slightly obscure-- you know, chances are whoever I’m driving around won’t have heard it, but it’s super catchy and, especially at nighttime, I think it would get you going.

You’re in the middle of a long walk...

I went on a long walk on a beach in Jamaica once, and when you do that, a lot of people try to talk to you. So my technique was putting headphones on and listening to Grace Jones.

Your pet was hit by a car...

Karen Dalton's "Something on Your Mind" is not necessarily sad, but it sounds monumental. I remember when my dog was actually hit by a car-- I was away and when I came back, he was just in the basement. I thought, "This isn’t our dog." His personality was so different.

I'm a person who struggles with sleep, so someone with a very low speaking voice, like Leonard Cohen, would be perfect.

You just lost your keys...

"Looking for the Magic" by Dwight Twilley. He’s from Tulsa, Oklahoma. When I’m looking for my keys, I could also be looking for the magic. This song is fantastic, it should be one of those songs that every American knows.

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You’re scrubbing your fridge...

That’s an activity I enjoy. I have a mix on my iPod called "In the Kitchen" that has the Led Zeppelin song "Hots on for Nowhere", from Presence. I have one of those big first-generation iPods that doesn’t work unless it’s in this [speaker]-- it’s very adult.

You win $100 on a scratch-off lottery ticket...

"New York Groove" by Ace Frehley. I heard this last year at the U.S. Open, and it makes for great arena rock, but also for general celebration: "With a fistful of dollars, I'm back!"

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You’re in the car with your grandma...

I took a trip from Florida to Chicago with my grandmother, and we had four cassettes. One of them was Talking Heads’ Little Creatures, and David Byrne makes monkey noises on the song "Perfect World", and my grandmother was mimicking that.

You just drank several cans of some neon green energy drink...

Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same"

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You’re on a long airplane ride next to a gross, smelly person...

Any Sparks record, because I’d be paying attention to the music closely. It might get my mind off what was going on next to me.

Someone close to you gives you a shitty gift for your birthday...

Ronnie Lane’s version of "I’m Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself a Letter)"-- a great song of disappointment from the 1930s.

__You’re trudging through a snowstorm...
__

In the winter of 2010, I busted my cross-country skis out and I skied around in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I wasn’t listening to music at the time. But if I was, Duncan Browne’s entire self-titled album would have been the perfect thing.

You realize your significant other unfollowed you on Twitter...

"Walk a Thin Line" by Fleetwood Mac. It sounds sad, but it’s actually not that sad.